[Relations of intracardiac dimensions as measured by echocardiography and plasma atrial natriuretic peptide levels in various cardiovascular diseases].

The correlation between the plasma atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) levels and echocardiographically measured atrial and ventricular dimensions was studied in various cardiovascular diseases. A total of 107 patients (valvular heart disease 27, cardiomyopathy 11, ischemic heart disease 17, hypertension 42, congenital heart disease 2, and normal 8) were studied. None of the patients had overt signs of heart failure, though 22 of them had atrial fibrillation. Left ventricular end-diastolic and end-systolic diameters, ejection rate and end-diastolic posterior wall thickness were measured by M-mode echocardiography. Maximal left and right atrial diameters and right ventricular end-diastolic diameter were measured by the apical four-chamber view. Following echocardiographic evaluation and blood pressure measurement, blood sampling was performed via the antecubital vein into a tube containing aprotinin and the samples were analyzed by radioimmunoassay. There was no significant correlation between ANP level and heart rate, systemic blood pressure, left ventricular end-diastolic and end-systolic diameters, ejection fraction, posterior wall thickness or right ventricular end-diastolic diameter. The most probable reason for the insignificant relationships was that the correlation varied according to the underlying cardiovascular diseases; e.g., correlation between ANP level and left ventricular diameter was significantly positive in mitral regurgitation, while it was significantly negative in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. There was a significant correlation between ANP level and the maximal right (r = 0.40, p less than 0.001) or left atrial diameter (r = 0.57, p less than 0.001).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)